THUNDER BAY – Jakob Newton continued his hot-hitting ways for the Thunder Bay Border Cats on Saturday night.
The Oakville, Ont. native doubled, singled and drove in four in the seven-inning, doubleheader night-cap in front of a season-high 1,525 at Port Arthur Stadium, helping the Cats snap a five-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over the visiting St. Cloud Rox.
Newton, who has 10 RBI in his past 10 games, raised his 2019 total to 23.
The former temporary signing, who played his way onto the roster, keyed a five-run second inning for Thunder Bay in the nightcap, singling home J.J. Rollon and Karsten Vasquez to close out a frame that saw Alex Dafoe double in a run, Thunder Bay’s Nicholas Fazzari plate another on a ground out to second and Vasquez single to score one more off St. Cloud starter Trae Robertson.
Robertson wouldn’t escape the second, leaving with two outs.
Thunder Bay added two more in the fourth, courtesy of Newton, whose sixth double of the season scored Rollon and Fazzari.
Peyton Burks was solid over six innings for the Border Cats, giving up three runs on nine hits and two walks.
Tyler Hansen mopped things up in the seventh, allowing two hits but escaping trouble thanks to a 6-4-3 double play with Parker Smejkal at the dish.
Burks earned the win, his first in five decisions for Thunder Bay this summer.
The offence just wasn’t there in the opener, a make-up of a game rained out earlier this season in St. Cloud.
Garrett Delano tossed a three-hit, seven-inning shutout for the Rox, striking out five en route to a 4-0 triumph that clinched the Great Plains West division title for St. Cloud (23-13).
The Rox got all the offence they’d need in the first, Ben Carew scoring on a Brendan Cindric wild pitch.
Cindric gave up another run in the fourth before exiting, Anthony Galati taking over and closing things out, allowing two more runs on six hits in the final three innings of the contest.
Jake Larson, Triston Lundgren and Galati had the only hits for Thunder Bay.
The split leaves the Border Cats at 10-25 heading into Sunday’s regular-season finale against St. Cloud. Dafoe (1-5) is expected to get the start for Thunder Bay. Game time is 1:35 p.m.
